More than half of the schools in Anne Arundel County have a 4- or 5-star rating in this year’s Maryland School Report Card.

The data, which was released on Tuesday by the Maryland State Department of Education, ranks public schools on a 5-star scale. Schools are awarded ratings annually based on their students’ academic achievement, progress toward English language proficiency, graduation rates and more. This round of ratings is based on data from the 2023-24 school year.

Bob Mosier, chief communications officer for Anne Arundel County Public Schools, said the county takes a multipronged approach to improving schools “to get at the root of as many issues as we can.”

“We have put a tremendous amount of time and effort into not just the curricular aspects of things but things like reducing chronic absenteeism,” the term for the proportion of students who miss more than 10% of school days, he said.

Here are a few of the highlights.

The county is home to the No. 1-ranked middle school in the state.

Chesapeake Science Point Middle/High School, a charter school in Hanover, boasts 5 stars based on a score of 80 points out of 100.

Schools earn points based on how well their students meet a number of criteria. They need 75 points to earn 5 stars.

Chesapeake Science Point also ranks fifth in the state among high schools.

Anne Arundel schools rank in the top 10 in the state.

Severna Park Middle is ranked seventh in the state’s middle schools, with a 4-star ranking.

Additionally, the county has two elementary schools that are in the top 10 in Maryland: Arnold Elementary and Jones Elementary, which are tied in the ninth spot, both boasting 5 stars.

111 of 120 Anne Arundel schools earned at least 3 stars.

That’s about average compared to other school districts in the region.

Fifty-three percent of the schools in Anne Arundel County have a 4- or 5-star rating, a 6 percentage point increase from the last round of ratings.

The ratings are only a snapshot of how a school is performing, according to the state. The goal of the report card ratings is to identify what a school is doing well, where to improve and how the school compares to others.

21 schools had better ratings this year.

In the county, four schools increased from a 4-star to a 5-star rating: Crofton Woods Elementary, Davidsonville Elementary, Hillsmere Elementary and Oak Hill Elementary.

Hilltop Elementary was an overachiever and jumped from a 2-star rating last time to a 4-star rating this time, while 10 others climbed to 4-star status and six schools jumped from a 2-star rating to a 3-star rating.

Just eight schools lost a star.

Baltimore Banner reporters Greg Morton and Kristen Griffith contributed to this article.

About the Education Hub

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